Here’s what we’ve been up to!

Since we last took stock – Uplift members from all over Ireland have been leading on important campaigns, upskilling in lots of exciting ways and making headlines.

So kick back, make yourself a cuppa and have a look at just some of what we’ve been up to together in the past few months.

We helped save 14 year old Nonso from deportation

14 year old Nonso was threatened with deportation, even though he and his family have lived here for most of his life. When his school community made a stand, Uplift members stood strongly with them; raising money for ads in the local paper, signing and sharing the petition, barraging the Minister with calls and visits and chipping in for a petition delivery that made headlines the next day.

Minister Flanagan has come out and said that Nonso can stay at home in Ireland. Because of the action taken by people like you.

We made headlines over plastic pollution and exposed the influence of lobbyists

Uplift member Diane started a huge campaign to cut plastic waste by bringing in a bottle deposit refund scheme. Uplift members teamed up with Friends of the Earth to deliver our 30,000 strong petition before the debate on the Waste Management Bill. Then, when the new Environment Minister kicked the bill into the long grass, we made a video exposing the influence of lobbyists on him.

We stopped the sale of the last Magdalene Laundry

Together we blocked Dublin City Council from selling the last publicly owned Magdalene Laundry to a hotel chain. Now, it’s going to be turned into a memorial site – and hopefully a site for public housing.

Uplift members chipped in to pay for a powerful billboard on the day of the Pope’s visit, signed and shared and emailed the petition to Councillors, and took to Twitter to get the campaign trending.

We’ve conducted the largest housing survey in Europe!

People across Ireland have pooled our experience of the housing crisis; from adults forced to live with their parents into their 30s, to working families evicted and unable to find a home – together we’ve painted a comprehensive picture of the harm done when politicians fail to act. Experts are turning the results into a list of demands for change – and in the run up to the General Election we’ll ramp up the pressure on our TDs to agree to back the real solutions to this crisis. Reply to this email if you’d like to help lead action in your community.

Uplift members are skilling up massively!

Community members from across Ireland have been skilling up in how to run powerful campaigns for a more sustainable, democratic, equal and just Ireland. So far we’ve covered campaign strategy, political campaigning, social media, and writing to win. We hope to be able to raise enough money to run the course again next year, so keep an eye out.

There’s so much more to share and talk about, but there’s only so much we can squeeze into a blog post. For now, well done to you, and the thousands of other Uplift members helping to build an Ireland we can all be proud of.

More power to us all.

PS: Uplift is mostly funded by small donations from members like you. Would you help keep Uplift going by becoming a monthly donor? Chip In Securely Here: https://uplift.ie/donate/